Anyone know offhand what kind of procedure you need to go through to bring Freshwater Tropical Aquarium Fish back to the US? I know my parents did it many years ago, but not sure how. I’ve got about 60 fish, many of whom I’ve raised since birth, that I’d like to take with me if possible. The other option would be giving them away, but finding good homes for all of them might be tough, and I’d hate to give them to an aquarium store, where they’ll most likely be sold or neglected.
Don’t fly China Airlines. Turtleman over on TaiwanHo, had his precious turtles killed by them.
Brian
This has to be the most bizarre topic I have ever seen.
[quote]I’ve got about 60 fish, many of whom I’ve raised since birth[/quote]…many of whom? Let me guess, they all have names.
Advice: sell the lot with the tank and accessories when you move. Or give them a burial at sea via the toilet.
I have a mosquito I want to transport to the US when I return. I hear that China Airlines isn’t so good; they killed my friend’s pet earwig when he tried. Broke his heart.
[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]This has to be the most bizarre topic I have ever seen.
[quote]I’ve got about 60 fish, many of whom I’ve raised since birth[/quote]…many of whom? Let me guess, they all have names.
Advice: sell the lot with the tank and accessories when you move. Or give them a burial at sea via the toilet.
I have a mosquito I want to transport to the US when I return. I hear that China Airlines isn’t so good; they killed my friend’s pet earwig when he tried. Broke his heart.[/quote]
Nope, not really that bizarre. People bring fish from time to time due to the high cost of fish in the US compared to Asia.
No, I haven’t named any of them.
Those who are familiar with aquaristics know that “burial” via toilet is one of the cruelest ways you can put a fish down. They can survive for quite awhile in the sewage system while they die a slow painful death. If you have to put a fish down (usually because they are sick and uncurable), there are other more humane methods to use where they die rather quickly and painlessly.
I plan to keep the tank and accessories in storage, as it’s most likely not a permanent move, but obviously someone’s gotta take care of the fish. The best of both worlds is if I can find enough people who want fish to give them away to.
Anyway, it was a serious question, people can and do bring fish back to the states. Heck, many of the aquarium fish you buy in Taiwan are shipped via air from Southeast Asia as well, since it’s cheaper than breeding them locally.
I generally try to stay civil on the forums, and avoid inflammatory statements, but I don’t appreciate your feeble attempt at humor. 
Ben:
Does the word anthropomorphic come to mind?
Ben:
Oh cry me a river…If you don’t like my posts, just skip over them.
Seriously, shipping tropical fish back to the States? If you can’t take some ribbing on that, then you better not leave the monastery.
I’d like to see pictures of your fish.
Um…maybe you can Fed Ex them?
Sounds illegal to me. Some people apparently release their cichlids, arawanas, and other killer foreign fish into waterways back home where the local fish are wimpy and get their butts kicked by the foreign fish, or so I’ve read. If you can’t bring dead meat for eating I don’t see why they’d let you bring live fish.
Do a google for Asian walking death fish.
I would get some soy sauce, vinegar, and some rice wine…
They’ll make it overseas one way or another.
But call the airline that you’ll be flying and ask to see if they make accommodation for live fishes. Then call Customs in the destination country to make sure the fishes are not illegal for import.
Hmm, I haven’t taken many pictures of them, but here’s a couple from some months back in my old small tank.
Yeah, I think certain fish that aren’t recognized as “common” aquarium fish that you can find in any US aquarium store are restricted. With the whole Chinese Snakehead incident on the East Coast a couple years back, I wouldn’t be surprised if rules have been changed. Then again, those fish aren’t common aquarium fish in any country, as far as I know. Most of the tropical fish in the aquarium trade wouldn’t survive in North American waters anyway, because it’s simply too cold compared to their native habitats. In addition, many of the fish you buy in US aquarium stores come from the same Southeast Asian fish farms that the ones in Taiwan come from, and are shipped in by air.
It’s been a number of years since my parents shipped back about 90 fish to stock their then new aquarium, and I know they did it legally via China Airlines. More recently, my dad started raising Koi in an outdoor pond, and those were imported from Taiwan too. In both cases, I think it was for reasons of cost, since the price difference between Taiwan and US can be 10x or more. For large quantities of fish, or with fish like Koi or Arrowanas, you save a lot of money by importing them.
In any case, as I think I may have mentioned, shipping them back is the last resort. Hopefully, I can find enough good homes to give them away to when the time comes.
I’ll check with some airlines and shipping or freight forwarding companies just to be sure. Thanks for everyone’s input! 
Ben, if you move back with an international mover/forwarder, they can usually do all the arrangements for accompanying pets - even those without names … 
good luck! Xpet.
Ben, in all honesty, you must be kidding.
These fish are not hard to find in the US. They are common. I had some of the same ones 20 years ago and they cost next to nothing. I thought you had some rare tropical fish. Seriously, if one of these costs the equivalent of US$1.50 here (which they do), it might be US$2.50 in the States or a bit more. Hardly worth the effort of transporting them.
[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]Ben, in all honesty, you must be kidding.
These fish are not hard to find in the US. They are common. I had some of the same ones 20 years ago and they cost next to nothing. I thought you had some rare tropical fish. Seriously, if one of these costs the equivalent of US$1.50 here (which they do), it might be US$2.50 in the States or a bit more. Hardly worth the effort of transporting them.[/quote]
Definitely appreciate your more serious response this time. 
As I said, I’m gonna try to give them away first. That was my original intent, and I’ve already given away a few. I’d rather not take them with me if I don’t have to. Taking some of them with me is just “Plan B”, and thought I’d get some information first. If I can find good homes for all of them, I’m in agreement with you that I don’t want to go through the hassle.
As for cost, they cost about the equivalent of about US$0.30 here in Taiwan. In the US, they cost about US$3-4 each. About 10x. Some of the catfish are rarer, and cost about US$5-6 each in the US. Assuming I wanted to buy 60-70 of these fish when I got back (I probably won’t), you can see how it may be worth it for someone to bring them with them on the plane as part of their luggage allowance. You’re looking at US$20 and the inconvenience of bringing them on the plane and clearing customs. Buying the same fish in the same quantity in the US would run close to US$200.
The one pic you posted had 8 fish, if I counted right. You’d need a whale of a tank for 70 fish.
I’ve had fish, Ben, and I can understand your reluctance to part with them, but there’s no way I’d bother trying to fly them home. It’s too much hassle and the fish you showed are available in the states.
But you may not need to give them away as you suggested – you can probably find a store willing to buy them, especially the store where you bought them. At least in the US that worked for me. I sold back Cichlids, etc, to the store where I bought them.
The one pic you posted had 8 fish, if I counted right. You’d need a whale of a tank for 70 fish.[/quote]
The main tank I’m using now is larger than the ones in the pictures. I’ve got a grand total 4 tanks set up now, and the 60 fish are spread out among them. I only bought less than 1/2 of them. The rest were born in my tanks.
Stores here won’t pay you anything for fish. They get them in bulk from wholesalers (who get them from Southeast Asian fish farms) for next to nothing. They don’t make much money on the fish, they make it on the tank, supplies, and accessories, so they definitely won’t pay you for fish unless you have something really rare or special. Some stores may not even take them for free, because they don’t want to introduce any potential diseases or parasites into their tanks, most of which are centrally filtered.
Anyway, I’ve still got some time left, so I’m in the process of giving away what I can.
I actually don’t even own a fishtank in the US, so it’s to my advantage to not take them with me. The whole thing was just a “what if I wanted to” scenario. 
You could always put them in condoms filled with water and swallow them and poop them out when you get to the States.